got a call from power built racing engines today, for those of you who visited chevy / vette fest this november ,powerbuilt had a vendor booth w/ the 383 strokers (w/ the plexiglas on the intakes)...they tore down the block tuesday, and so far my cylinder are honed within.001,,kieth black hypertech pistons,compression is at 10 to 1 the crank needs to be reground so the mains will be at 10 over and 30 over on the rod bearings,,,new 65 psi oil pump,and of corse the new 64cc chamber alumn edelbrock heads.the problem with the last build was the builder cheesed out when doing the valve job causing the cylinder walls to be in a constant bath of oil..the cylinder wall were all glazed and never seated the rings,,i wasnt aware of this but one thing i was told to do is always use a racing oil filter these filters do not have a relief valve,so the oil must run thru the filter,,when you have a high velosity pump,,,upon start up all the pressure opens up the valve dumping crud in your block,,,so engine gets built next week after crank gets back and then its time to watch the dyno run,,were all hoping for over 450 ,,,we'll see!!--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

You'll love it Carl. Keep us informed

 

builder states the difference will be night and day

 

Cam Specs?

 

same cam, best i can remember it was a crane fiberball i think the lift was around 488,but im guessing,its been awile and i would have to dig that out, the builder is putting tog a spec sheet and with the dyno results i'll have that stuff out at the shows on the trypod

 

Absolutely a difference of day and night. Just finished the install of zz383 and 200r4 last week. Don't quite have the trans shifting as smoothe as I would like...kind of downshifts too hard from 2 to 1.
Had the flowmaster40's put on today...another big difference. I was at a tired 185hp.
Are you gonna dyno yours?

 

Good choice to change engine shops Carl. But with 64cc chamber heads on a 383" keeping < 11:1 c.r u need > 15cc dished pistons. Maybe a quick question on piston dish size may show how honest this new shop is - answer should be straight and fast. U can do the math for yourself.

Anyways i hope they do u right and good luck.

cardo0

 

whats wrong w/ current pistons and 10 to 1 comp ?? why would i need the 11 to 1? from what i understand i am right at the line of pump gas and adding octane boost/race gas,i really dont want thatthanks for imput

 

ttt

 

is he saying you will be at 11 to 1 ???

 

I PM Carl about the crank grinding. If the crank has to be ground .030 on the rods this is a lot. I would personally not run anything that has been ground more than .020, preferably no more than .010. .030 on the rods or crank is a lot. The bearings are going to be very thick to make up that difference.

I had a flat top 327 with 64 cc heads that I calculated out to be 10:1. It ran fine on pump gas. It had to be 93 but it ran good. I did have a long duration cam in it, with a short duration you might get into detonation.

 

ill talk to the builder on that issue on monday,you would think that if they could sell you a crank,,balancing ect that they would try to sell it wouldnt you? but ill ask monday

 

well i talked to power built racing engines top guy this morning and stated how i was confused in the decision to go with 30 over on the crank bearings and 10 over on the mains,,,,since i can get a crank from summitt for under 200 and then have to balance the rods ect is another 280 so im at 500....well he states that what he wants to do is perfectly o.k. that the pervious build was at 20 over on the rods with regular rod bearings and now we are using a different bearing(some type of preformance bearing,, i forget what he called them ) and that builders can safely go up to 035 with them...he said the cranks already at the grinder so i called in time and he's workin out the price...but now i'll have to tack on the fee for the delivery of the crank to the crank grinder if i go w/ a new one ..so i know im over 600 for a new crank ---he's is a very helpful guy and has been really good to me as far as getting me what i want ,,but i can tell (maby cuz its monday morning ) that he was not happy with me taking imput from the interent over his,,and not that i was,, i just am concerned being something i have to live with and im paying for and its just a question!! im allowed to ask them!! i also explained this summer i plan on taking a few passes to see my time att 66 speedway,he stated i can safely do that,,,he said the decision is entirely up to me (if it was his motor he would go with the 30 and be done) and he will call back later today with the price breakdown,,boy this has only been a week and now i cant wait till its over

 

If he will make good on it if you have a problem then go ahead with it. That seems a little excessive at .030 but if is willing to stand behind his work have at it. Most people don't like to be questioned on their skills but it is your money you should be able to question what it is being spent on. Good luck on your decision.

 

he's callin me back w/ the total price breakdown,,were talkin $192.99 for the new stroker crank i had a (400 g.m crank that the rod journals were cut down)+$200 balance everything so its another 392.99 the other way is 150 for the origional crank ground and i still got a 400 engine's crank 30 over, then i asked him the decieding question''what yould you do if this was your engine'' ---"" ID GO WITH THE NEW CRANK""-------SO IM GOING WITH THE NEW ONE believe me its not the money,,,id gladly pay it for the piece of mind--i just wish i knew this before i had to spend the delivery charge to the grinder

 

The whole thing about under ground cranks or even having to grind the crank says one thing. cheap junk crappy cast crank shafts and lack of correct weight oils and pressures

The whole idea of bearings is they ware first because they are softer metal than the crank shaft. Your actually supposed to have a oil film so the bearing surface never touches the crank when it's up to temp and oil pressure.

You should never see ware on a good crank and properly assembled engine.

Your not saving money when you buy cheap crap cranks and have all the labor costs rebuilding them.

 

so then i suppose you agree w/ me in getting a stroker crank,,and not using the 400 crank at 30 over...the new crank besides being tighter (not ground down) is a better application for my monster

 

I think you are much better off with a new crank. I would not want tha tunder ground one in my motor. Pay a little more upfront with no worries once it is together. You are making the right decision.

 

now that the crank issue is behind me ,,i dont understand the ''old school'' way my motor was built. he said it was done this older way,,i guess they take a 400 crank and cut down the rod journals to fit the 400 rods??why would you have to do that if you have a 400 crank and 400 rods it should fit right??? then am i starting the same thing all over?? should i dump the rods and go with something fitted for the crank?what im am trying to say is do they have to grind down this crank to fit the 400 rods?should i get rods that are ''i'' beam '' so i dont have to start the cutting again?? boy i wish i knew more about this before i started,,but i didnt know what was in there till friday!!

 

"Old School" is using a 400 crank and grind the crank down to the 350 main journal size. It's something that was done 35 years ago. Crank manufactures started making quality 3.750 stroker cranks to be installed in 350 blocks in the mid to late 80's. At least that's when i first started seeing them

So any machine shop that uses a 400 crank today dosn't know how to read or their brain shut down 15+ years ago. Let me take that back. If I wanted to bilk people for labor costs, I'd tell them about all the expensive machining I had to do and all these bearing sizes required and then go buy the $200 crank and laugh all the way to bank.